Winding machine



April 13, 1954 Filed Nov. 19, 1952 W. L. PERRY WINDING MACHINE 4 Sheets-$heet l April 13, 1954 w. L. PERRY 2,675,183

WINDING MACHINE April 13, 1954 w. L. PERRY 2,675,183

WINDING MACHINE Filed NOV. 19, 1952 4 Sheets-$heet 3 4 J W y jnz/enzar ltZzfiZkf0pZ,Per ry W 25% W April 13, 1954 w. L. PERRY WINDING MACHINE 4 Sheets-$heet 4 Filed Nov. 19, 1952 frzzy'erzfor lf fl'izfi zropl. Perry Patented Apr. 13, 1954 ATENT OFFICE WINDING MACHINE Winthrop L. Perry,

Milford, N. 11., assignor to Abbott Machine 00., Inc.,

Wilton, N. H., a, corporation of New Hampshire ApplicationNovember 19, 1952, Serial N 0.321299 9 Claims. 1

This application is a continuation in part oi. application Serial No. 233,144, filed June 23, 19 1, for Winding Machine.

This invention relates to winding machines of the type including a plurality of winding units each constructed and arranged to wind a filling wound bobbin during travel of the winding units in a procession around the machine. In the customary construction of this type of machine a bobbin is completely wound upon a winding unit in somewhat less than one full trip around the machine, and the winding units successively arrive at a stationary tending mechanism which acts to replace the completely wound bobbin with a new empty bobbin and start the winding unit in operation again.

In machines of this type the thread upon an individual winding unit will occasionally break or exhaust, thus failing to produce a completely wound bobbin, and more especially, failing to cause the body of thread on the bobbin to extend, axially of the bobbin, the expected distance toward the tip of the bobbin. When, because of such breakage or exhaustion, the wound body of thread is greatly deficient in size, that is, when its pointed nose containing the last-wound layers is too far removed from the tip end of the bobbin, then there is risk of the bobbin failing to transfer properly in an automatic loom and hence danger of a mispick in weaving.

It is good practice, in winding bobbins of this type for use in automatic looms, to segregate those partially wound bobbins which are considered to be insufficiently filled, and subject these to special supervision, for instance to use all of these bobbins in a small group of looms that are attended by one or more special operators.

The principal object of this invention is to provide mechanism which will automatically segregate the bobbins which are considered to be insufficiently filled, and which will accomplish this in a simple economical manner.

Other advantages of the invention will be apparent from this specification and its accompanying drawing in which the invention is explained by description and illustration of a preferred example thereof.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of an automatic filling bobbin winder having the invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation, with many parts removed and largely diagrammatic,of themechanism of Fig. 1;

Fig. .3 is a plan view of a portion of another I 2 automatic filling winder having the invention applied thereto;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation, with many parts removed and largelydiagrammatic, of the mechanism of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is a verticalsectional View taken from the left side of Fig. 3.

The traveling spindle filling bobbin winder of which a portion is shown in Figs. .1 and 2 may include many of the featuresof United States Reissue Patent No. 22,492 and Patents Nos. 2,377,367 and 2,395,028. Thus the winder may include a plurality of winding units indicated generally at I5 movable by means of an endless chain It around an endless track consisting of upper and lower stationary rails of which the upper rail is indicated at It in Fig. -1. Each winding unit may be individually driven by its own electric motor IQ deriving its current through the frame of the machine and through suitable brushes contacting with stationary conductor bars 2|, so as to wind an individual bobbin as the winding unit travels around the machine.

Yarn or thread from a supply package carried by the unit may be drawn upwardly through suitable tension and breakage detector devices to a traversing thread guide assembly indicated generally at 9, and thence onto a winding bobbin held between inner and outer centers 24 and 25.

The inner center 24 is rotated by the motor I9 to rotate the bobbin. The thread guide assembly 9 is reciprocated by suitable cam and linkage connections also driven by the motor, and, during the winding, the thread guide assembly is progressively advanced from the base oi the bobbin toward the tip, to provide the typical filling wind.

The thread guide assembly 9, since it is of well known construction, will not be described in detail, but may be seenfor example in Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 7 of the UnitedStates patent of Abbott and Perry No. 2,426,167. It may be mentioned here that the thread guide assembly 9 is frictionally mounted upon a reciprocating rod 20 which has a relatively short stroke of traverse, and is caused to advance along this reciprocating rod from the region or the base of the bobbin to the region ofthe tip of the bobbin by means of a feeler 75, in accordance with the axial growth of the thread mass on the winding bobbin.

Upon the completion of winding of abobbin on the traveling unit or upon previous breakage or exhaustion-of the thread, theindividual motor of the unit is deenergized and rotation of the bobbin is stopped by breaking the circuit to the motor, for instance by lifting of the units brushes along with the winding from the conductor bars i5. This stopping of rotation should normally occur because of completion of winding of the bobbin somewhat before the winding unit reaches the apparatus shown in Fig. 1. Preferably the machine is provided with a known form of mechanism which will deenergize the individual motor at such place in any event. It will therefore be understood that each winding unit enters the apparatus shown in Fig. l, in an inactive condition but still holding its bobbin, generall completely wound, in Winding position between the centers 2 and 25.

The outer center 25 of each unit is retractable to discharge the wound bobbin from winding position by means of a crank arm 35 on the winding unit and a stationary dofiing abutment 3| diagrammatically indicated in Fig. 1. Upon the crank arm 30 encountering the abutment 3|, the wound bobbin will drop from the centers at short distance onto a horizontal stationary plate 32 which extends along the path of travel of the winding units l5, underneath their head portions. The bobbin is rolled along this plate by being held between a vertical plate 35 and a rod 36 (Fig. 2) both of which extend from and move unit.

Upon leaving the right end of the cloning abutment 3|, that is, somewhat to the right of the mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the crank 35 allows the outer center .25 to close upon a new empty bobbin which is releasably held by suitable bobbin-feeding mechanism. The wound bobbin, previously discharged onto plate 52, may be delivered from the right end of this plate to any suitable receptacle, or to bobbin-arranging mechanism adapted to place the bobbins upon pinboards as in the United States patent application of Edward J. Abbott and Winthrop L. Perry Serial No. 44,754, filed August 17, 1948, or adapted to pack the bobbins into containers, as in the United States patent application of Winthrop L. Perry, Serial No. 204,738, filed January 6, 1951.

In preparation for the reception of a new bobbin and the starting of winding thereon, the thread guide assembly 9 is returned toward the base center 24 by a stationary overhead cam 3H5 engaging an upstanding roller 8| on the thread guide assembly.

The illustrated machine includes provision for distinguishing between the bobbins of the winding units in regard to the attained lengths of the thread masses thereon, and doifing mechanism arranged to doff the bobbins to different receivers in accordance with the attained lengths of the thread masses on the bobbins.

More specifically the illustrated machine includes the provision of mechanism for detecting an undesired degree of incompleteness of winding of the bobbins in advance of the regular doffing mechanism such as the dofiing abutment 3|, and a further doffing mechanism controlled by the detecting mechanism so as to remove incompletely wound bobbins from the procession of winding units in advance of the regular dofiing mechanism.

A suitable detecting mechanism may comprise, as shown, a tiltable plate 55 secured by arms 5| to a shaft 52 rotatably mounted in stationary brackets 53 carried by an upper supporting angle bar 54 which extends from a stationary part of the frame out over the path of traveling winding units.

A sleeve 60 is shown as vertically slidable upon a rod 6| mounted in a boss 62 at the outer end of angle bar 54. An arm 64 fast on shaft 52 engages beneath an enlarged upper and Qi Sleeve 6|] so as to raise the sleeve when the plate is tilted upwardly. The lower end of sleeve 50 is enlarged in the form of a wheel 65 adapted, when raised, to serve as a doffmg cam to force inwardly the crank arm 30 of a passing winding unit so as to retract the outer center 25 and doff the bobbin.

Normally the tiltable plate 50 rides over the tops of the winding units, leaving the wheel 65 approximately in the full line position of Fig. 2 in which it lies below the level of the crank arms 30 of the winding units. Ordinarily the thread will neither have broken nor exhausted during the circuit around the machine which the winding unit is just completing, and in this usual case, the thread guide assembly 9 will have progressed nearly to the tip end of the bobbin, and so will clear the tiltable plate 50 and not raise the wheel 65 to its active position.

However when there arrives at the tiltable plate 55 a winding unit in the condition of the winding unit of Fig; 1, with its thread guide assembly considerably farther from the tip of the bobbin than in case the bobbin had been fully wound, the upstanding roller 8| of the thread guide assembly engages the plate 5|] and tilts it upwardly. This acts through the shaft 52 and arm 64 to raise the sleeve 66 and carry the wheel 65 to the level of the crank arm 30 of that winding unit. The bobbin of that Winding unit is accordingly doffed from the centers 24 and 25 of the unit.

A suitable chute I0 is provided to receive the partially wound bobbins that are doffed at this point, and may discharge into any suitable con- I tainer in which these bobbins are thus segregated from the full or nearly full bobbins doffed onto the bobbin-receiving plate 32 by the regular dotfing abutment 3|.

Thus in the preferred illustrated form of mechanism, the position of the thread guide assembly indicates approximately the attained length of the thread mass on the bobbin, and the tiltable detector plate 50, by either being tilted or not being tilted by the upstanding roller 8|, thus distinguishes between the bobbins in regard to the attained lengths of the thread masses thereon, this tilting or non-tilting of the plate 50 determining whether a given bobbin is to be doffed into the chute 10 and go into a receiver for partly filled bobbins or be doffed farther along onto the plate 32 and go into whatever receiver is employed to receive the main product of the machine, for instance a container or pinboard.

The angle bar 54 and parts carried thereby can be adjusted inwardly and outwardly to adjust for various lengths of bobbins. The width of plate 50 determines the extent to which the thread guide assembly must have progressed in orderfor the upstanding roller 8| to avoid tilting the plate, and hence determines the degree of incompleteness of a bobbin that will cause the bobbin to be doffed into the chute 10.

In the usual automatic traveling spindle filling winder the plate 32 has its leftend developed as a cam or plow to deflect the thread extending from the supply to the thread guide assembly over toward the vertical plane of the base center 24. In the present machine the provision of the chute 10 ahead of the plate 32 makes it dosirable to cam or plow the thread extending from the supply to the thread guide assemblytoward the plane of ,the base center before the winding I units pass this chute l 0, especially since most winding units will have this thread extending unbroken vfrom the supply to the thread guide assembly and shouldnot be allowed to be caught by the chute. Accordinglyin the illustrated machine a of the sufficiently wound bobbins that aredofied.

onto plate 32, the invention obtains its fullest utility in connection with mechanism which ar ranges these bobbins in systematic formation, as on pinboards as in said application Serial No. 44,754 or in containers as in said application Serial No. 204,738, and in such cases it is" preferable' that the cycle of step-by-step movement of the mechanism that arranges or disposes the bobbins should be initiated by the detection of a bobbin presented thereto by the traveling winding units as in said application Serial No. 44,754 or in Figs. 19. and 20 of said application Serial No; 204,738. Then, although there will be a gap in the procession of bobbins carried along plate 32 when an incompletely wound bobbin has been defied into the chute it, this gap will be closed up in. the bobbin-arranging or disposing mechanism by this mechanism merely omitting a cycle of step-by-step operation, and the pinboard or container will be completely and regularly filled with bobbins notwithstanding the clofilng of the insufilciently wound bobbins in the chute 10.

In Figs. 3, 4 and 5 many of the elements are the same or similar to those of Figs. 1 and 2 and are designated by the same or similar reference characters.

In Figs. 3, 4 and 5 the invention is shown as applied to the type of automatic filling winder in which the thread guide assembly 9 includes no feeler but has its progressive movement from the base toward the tip of the bobbin controlled by contact of its upstanding roller 3! with an abutment 82 which extends around the machine. A machine of this type is described and claimed in United States Patent No. 2,362,455 dated November 14, 1944.

In this type of machine if the thread of a winding unit breaks or exhausts, then even though stop mechanism is employed to deenergize the motor of the unit and thus stop rotation of the bobbin and the fast short stroke reciprocation of the thread guide, the thread guide is nevertheless slowly progressed outwardly toward the tip of the bobbin by the outward camming action of the abutment S2 acting upon the roller 8! the winding unit travels.

In Figs. 3, 4 and 5 the mechanism for detecting the attained lengths of the thread masses, acts directly upon the thread masses instead of indirectly through the thread guide as in Figs. 1 and 2.

The upper angle bar b t carries in bearings iii! a rotatable shaft 9! having fast thereon a bent lever 92, Fig. 5. Contact or a stud 93 on each winding unit with the bent lever 92 lifts this lever and rotates the shaft 9i. A feeler element 75 is pivoted upon shaft 9! and yieldingly connected to a crank ann 94 on shaft 9! by a coil spring 95.

Feeler element is located inwardly, i. 6., toward the base center it. from the abutment 82 so that the thread guide assembly M will always have progressed outwardly beyond the feeler element and will not be engaged by it. Upon being tilted by rotation of the shaft 9!, feeler ele- 6. ment 15*" strikes the full diameter cylindrical portion of the thread mass on the. bobbin ii the bobbin has beenwound to. full diameter in thatplace' in its. lengthas indicated by the full line showing of the bobbin in Fig. 5 A tall portion 15" on the feeler element carries an adjustable:

screw 15 adapted to strike and close a microswitch 51. However the screw 15 is so adjusted that it will not reach and actuate the. switch 97 upon the limited tilting of the. feeler when the motion of the feeler is checked by the feeler striking the full diameter cylindrical portion of a bobbin. If the. thread has broken or exhausted the thread: mass has not attained its intended full diameter at the location of the feeler, as in broken. lines in Fig. 5, the feeler can tilt farther, and in. this case the screw 15 closes the.

switch 91.

Switch 9! controls an electric circuit to a solenoid I89. and the armature ill! of the solenoid is connected by a link. I 02 to a rod I03 adapted to lift a. wheel 65*, corresponding to the wheel of Figs. 1 and 2. When the solenoid is energized as a result of detection of an incompletely filled bobbin, the wheel 65 is lifted to the level of the crank arm as of a winding unit and the wheel engages this crank arm and causes the incomepletely filled. bobbin. to be discharged into the chute. l0. As in 1 and 2 a dofiing abutment 3i dons: those bobbins which have attained a predetermined length and which will accordingly' not be doffecl by the wheel 55.

I claim:

I. In a winding. machine including. a plurality of traveling winding units each constructed and arranged to wind a filling wound bobbin during travel of the winding units in a procession, mechanism for detecting the attained lengths of. the thread masses on the bobbins on the winding units, and dofiing mechanism adapted to dofi the bobbins at different places in the path of travel, said dolllng mechanism being controlled by said detecting mechanism so as to dofi" at one such placein the path of travel those bobbins of which the thread masses have attained less than a predetermined length and todofi at a second such place in the path of travel those bobbins of which the thread masses have attained at least such predetermined length.

2. In a winding machine including a plurality of traveling winding units each constructed and arranged to wind a filling wound bobbin during travel of the winding units in a procession and each including a thread guide adapted to advance along the bobbin from the base toward the tip of the bobbin, mechanism for detecting the extent of such advance of the several thread guides, and dofilng mechanism adapted to dofl the bobbins at different places in the path of travel. said dofiing mechanism being controlled by said detecting mechanism so as: to doff at one such place in the path of travel those bobbins of which the corresponding thread guides have advanced less than a predetermined amount and to doff at a second such place in the path of travel those bobbins of which the corresponding thread guides have advanced at least such predetermined amount.

3. In a winding machine including a plurality of traveling winding units each constructed and arranged to wind a filling wound bobbin during travel of the winding units in a procession, and mechanism for doifing wound bobbins from the winding units at a place in their path of travel: mechanism for detecting incompleteness of wind- 7 ing of the bobbins, on the several units, and a further dofiing mechanism controlled by the detecting mechanism, said detecting and further doffing mechanisms being positioned to act on the several winding units in advance of the first named dofiing mechanism, so as to remove incompletely wound bobbins from the procession of winding units in advance of dofling of the more completely wound bobbins by said first named dofiing mechanism.

4. In a winding machine including a plurality of traveling winding units each including a feelercontrolled traversing thread guide adapted to progress along the winding bobbin during travel of the winding units in a procession, and mechanism for dofiing wound bobbins from the winding units at a place in their path of travel: mechanism for detecting failure of a thread guide of a winding unit to advance to a certain extent along its bobbin, and further dofling mechanism controlled by the detecting mechanism, said detecting and further dofiing mechanisms being positioned to act on the several winding units in advance of the first named dofiing mechanism, so as to remove incompletely wound bobbins from the procession of winding units in advance of dofiing of more completely wound bobbins by said first named doffing mechanism.

5. In a winding machine including a plurality of traveling winding units each constructed and arranged to wind a filling wound bobbin during travel of the winding units in a procession and including a retractable bobbin-holding center and a centercontrolling member for retracting the center, and doffing mechanism adapted to engage the center-controlling members of said winding units at a place in their path of travel to dofi wound bobbins: mechanism for detecting incompleteness of winding of the bobbins of the several winding units and a member movable into and out of the path of said center-controlling members and under the control of said detecting mechanism, said detecting mechanism and said movable member being positioned to act on the several winding units in advance of the doffing mechanism so as to remove incompletely wound bobbins from the procession of winding units.

6. The combination with a machine for automatically winding yarn upon bobbins moving along a fixed path during the winding cycle comprising means movable to release said bobbins from said machine, means adapted to sense the extent of winding of yarn upon said bobbins and means rendered operative by said sensing means to move said releasing means when the amount of yarn wound upon said bobbins falls below a predetermined level.

7. In a machine for individually transporting a plurality of bobbins about which yarn is wound along a substantially fixed path, the improvement which comprises means for detecting an incompletely wound bobbin, means for releasing said bobbins from said machine and means operated in response to said detecting means to actuate said releasing means.

8. The combination with a machine for automatically winding yarn upon bobbins in which the bobbins are moved along a fixed path during the winding cycle, said machine including means operable to release said bobbins from said machine, of means for discriminating between a substantially fully wound bobbin and a substantially empty bobbin and means operable in response to said discriminating means to actuate said releasing means when a substantially empty bobbin is detected.

9. The combination with a machine for automatically winding yarn upon bobbins in which said bobbins are moved along a fixed path during the winding cycle and are normally ejected at the end of said path, of preliminary ejecting means disposed in said path prior to the end thereof comprising means for sensing an incompletely wound bobbin, means for releasing a bobbin from said machine, and meansoperable in response to said sensing means to actuate said releasing means whereby incompletely wound bobbins are ejected from said machine prior to the ejection of completely wound bobbins.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 622,998 Germany Dec. 11, 1935 653,290 Germany Nov. 20, 1937 

